Thriving In A Distressed Market: How Owens Realty Services Is Helping Lenders, Investors And The Public

Most people wouldn’t choose to start a commercial real estate brokerage and management business amid a massive downturn for the industry, but that didn’t stop Bob Owens.

The president, founder and CEO of Owens Realty Services saw the savings and loan crash of 1989 as an opportunity for his newly formed CRE firm to operate as a receiver — a firm that protects an asset during the foreclosure process — and leverage his extensive experience in asset management. At the time, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. controlled a large swath of the CRE industry as it foreclosed on a massive number of assets.

“We thought this was a huge market, and as a new company, we learned that this was a way to leapfrog into markets you often couldn't penetrate during normal business activity,” Owens said. 

Two years later, the company held a foreclosed real estate trade show, attracting more than 10,000 people. From that moment on, Owens became the go-to company for managing distressed real estate in the Northeast as a receiver or as a direct investment property manager, he said. 

Not content with sticking with one operational path and turning away from his family’s history as private developers, that same year, Owens saw the opportunity to apply his experience in the public sector as well. Even today, his focus remains on facility management for government buildings, ​​including K-12 school districts, courthouse portfolios, public venues, state office buildings and college campuses. 

“I thought growing a service company would have much more longevity and security than a developer's practice that rises and falls with the market,” Owens said. “Very quickly, we were saving the public sector clients about 20% in operating costs managing each facility from an owner-operator’s perspective.” 

Owens considers his firm’s vertically integrated operation “recession-proof” since economic downturns are when government agencies are most eager to outsource the management of their assets to drive better performance and efficiency. Armed with the stability this side of the business provides, Owens returned to his roots to build an investment portfolio, billing the company as an “opportunistic buyer” looking to purchase properties below replacement costs and transform them into successful projects that benefit local communities. 

In 2011, Owens purchased the former Trump Tower site in Tampa, Florida. The tract had been approved for a 52-story building with roughly 350 high-end condo units, but it never got out of the ground because of the economic downturn, cost of construction and other issues. When the property was foreclosed on, Owens made an offer at distressed pricing, confirmed the site’s development viability through a series of engineering tests, and acquired the asset from the bank. Less than five years later, the company sold the property for nearly three times its purchase price. 

The next year, Owens acquired The Plaza at Hannibal Square in Winter Park, Florida, paying a little over $10M for the 75K SF mixed-use development, which included a seven-story parking garage. The property featured multifamily units, office space and retail, but it was only 48% leased at the time of the acquisition, and the office space was just a shell, despite the development’s prime downtown Winter Park location.

Owens purchased this property directly from the lender for a distressed price and had it 98% leased within a year. 

Eventually, the company acquired seven more buildings in Hannibal Square, transforming dated offices and apartments into spaces that have commanded some of the highest rents in all of Central Florida, Owens said. The company recently disposed of the assets for a total of $56M from an original basis of $37M.

“With this project, we found the best market and best location by essentially following a developer who had just delivered the product at the wrong time,” Owens said. “With both Hannibal Square and the Trump Tower site, we were able to find great built or to-be-built projects that were facing some issues with their lenders and turn them into something great.”

Owens said that today, the company is looking to re-create the playbook he first put in place in the late 1980s: Focus on finding lucrative, creative receivership opportunities while capitalizing on the company’s successful facilities management business. But while the company was essentially just a startup in those days with a handful of employees, today it employs more than 1,000 individuals and works with some of the largest clients in the market, managing facilities for world-renowned theme parks in central Florida, professional sports organizations and local government, and operating in several states.

Owens said he is tracking all of the CRE debt throughout the country in every major market. He is seeing that loans are coming due, and many owners don't have the opportunity to refinance, as the market has changed. Owens said he thinks this will be an excellent opportunity for the firm to jump back in and acquire new, best-in-class assets at favorable pricing. 

“Distress in the market is mounting,” Owens said. “Recently, we have reached back out to our bank contacts and we’ve landed over 1M SF in receivership work solely because we have the scale and platform in place with a clean existing portfolio. While other groups are fighting with their banks and working out their own loans, we are stepping in as court-appointed receivers or property managers, and I think that will be a major line of work for the next several years.” 

Its goal is to closely monitor the real estate market, leveraging the company’s deep expertise to deliver services that align with both current market conditions and emerging needs. 

During economic downturns, the company provides essential services as a bank-appointed receiver and safeguards public funds by identifying operational cost savings by applying an owner-operated approach in facility management in the public sector. 

“Our strategy as opportunistic investors allows us to buy or sell based on ideal market conditions rather than being compelled by unfavorable circumstances, ensuring long-term stability and growth,” Owens said. “Vertical integration is a home run, providing a comprehensive advantage by streamlining operations, reducing costs and enhancing control despite the complexities of challenging markets.”

To learn more about Owens’ bank assignment work or future investment partnerships, please contact Palmer Vietor at pvietor@owensrealtyservices.com. 

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and Owens Realty Services. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.